The Lion, the sheep and Noah’s ark

Our Year 11 Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot program afforded our students the opportunity to explore and share their ideas of God and revelation with their peers and their teachers.

The reflections of our informal Jewish educator, Daniel Samowitz, following his experience that night, appear below. The thoughts of “Samo” are in the spirit of our tradition, “I have learned much from my teachers, more from my peers but most of all from my students”.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Daniel Samowitz – Jewish Life Madrich

I learn so much from my students

It’s easy in days like these to fall into despair about the world and its goings on. At times the Trump administration makes me wish for Frank Underwood (President from House of Cards). A refugee crisis is exploding around the world, and borders are getting tighter – that begs the question when people say “never again”, what do they mean?

When it comes to peace in the Middle East, one is left speechless, because it’s all been said and nothing changes.

But every now and then you need to cherish the moments in which you are reminded of the arc of history and you see in future generations connections to our vibrant story and more tools to deal with the dilemmas of the future than we had.

It’s not uncommon to hear murmurings of the God debate in the hallways of Emanuel, a debate I’ve chosen not to deal with for years. I remember the night when I was 18 that I stopped my conversation with God. I felt immature, I felt like I needed to grow up. I remember the questions:

• If there is a God, why do bad things happen?
• What about science?
• How did the lion not eat the sheep on Noah’s ark?
• Also speaking about Noah, why did God kill everyone? Do I want to believe in a God that conducts itself in that way?
• If I was born in Pakistan would I still believe in this one true God? How would I look at the world?
• Did God really write a book? And did she really think homosexuals should die because they wanted to be who they were?
• Who and what was I talking to?

We live in an age of choice. We live in a postmodern reality that seems to have no place for a God.

It used to be that believing in God gave you a certain amount of certainty, safety and security. Now not believing feels more logical. Science answers most questions except for why and even then it sometimes does too.

I write all this because this Shavuot I had a revelatory experience. I went into a situation where I, the educator, brought a conversation about how as individuals and a community we relate to God.

That day I found God in my students. I found God in the next generation’s abilities to dream, to think, feel and delve into the depths of their souls and make themselves vulnerable to each other, from humanity to justice, to truth, to a higher purpose. I found people with a maturity that could teach a thing or two to leaders in the world today. I found people with questions and I found people confused.

My students taught me that the way I have been relating to the God question has been incredibly flawed. They taught me belief isn’t immature, they taught me God can be spirituality, connection and justice. My students taught me to answer my 18 year old questions in a way that I feel comfortable and true to myself.

I was and am still deeply moved by the younger generation in our community. People sometimes feel uneasy with the perceived apathy of the younger generations and I do understand where they are coming from. I don’t think liking a post on Facebook is a form of social protest/Tikkun Olam! But I am excited by this new generation of young people who are answering the age old Jewish question of “who, if not I?”. They have taught me to believe again, believe in myself, to believe in a better world and a brighter tomorrow, to believe in starting a conversation that I stopped a long time ago.